Monday, March 30, 2009

It's hard to believe, but at a certain point in our collective rock n' roll experience, cassette tapes were where it's at when it came to formats. They were small and portable, could be played in cars or Walkmens, and were a lot less delicate then clumsy, bulky vinyl. They belonged to an era when nothing made music nerds salivate more than the words "new tape deck."

Of course, times have greatly changed. The industry moved on to the CD, and then MP3 files and even back (!) to vinyl. And unlike vinyl, there does not appear to be a nostalgic return to the cassette on the horizon. You won't be finding a $29 cassette reissue of Pet Sounds anytime soon.

So what to do with them? Why not take art of a past era and format and create new art. That's what artist iri5 has done. According to a bio on his Flickr, iri5 is "an artist who specializes in using non traditional media... old books, cassettes, playing cards, magazines, credit cards... whatever I can find. It feels great to work with strange, older materials. Things that have a mind of their own. Most everything I use has been thrown away or donated at some point. Past its prime, like some of the finest things in the world. : )"

Working with strange, older materials is exactly what iri5 has done with these works, which he calls Ghost In The Machine. It's pretty amazing, and is yet another reminder that MP3 and FLAC files lack a whole lot of the romance that physical albums have.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Barneys New York released their new Spring 2009 catalog which features New York band The Virgins and It model Col Mohr in picks for the new season from some designers such as Raf Simons, Prada, Fendi, Balenciaga, Pierre Hardy, and more.